What's your opinion of people who name their kids after fantasy science fiction novels/movies?

haha what is your name?

Lothlorien, middle name is from lotr too..

That’s actually a pretty cool name. It really depends on the name. Yours is a little less, common knowledge. Now if a kid was named “Vader”, then it would be kind of weird.

@Haroot I would never do that lol but I do like Arwen.

Arwen is a gorgeous name. Not everyone would immediately know where it was from anyway.
I think if it’s tasteful and a nice name it doesn’t matter. Unless it’s something really obvious that they would get crap about, then maybe not.

Some of the greatest names are found in such a medium. Unless you name your kid Darth Vader Smith .. I think it’s just fine.

It really depends on the name. Like @Haroot said, if you name your kid Vader, that’d be kind of weird. Personally, I don’t think I would’ve had the guts to use Lothlorien, and even though I really like it, I probably would be less than pleased if it were my name. But there are a lot of names in sci fi/fantasy that are really nice and a lot more subtle than, like… Gandalf.

@MacBean, yeahh, can’t say I’d be all that thrilled to be called Gandalf or Frodo or Aragorn. Sam would be alright :P even if it was Samwise on the birth certificate. Or Leah pronounced like in Star Wars would be alright too cause that’s not that obscure is it?

edit :: even Eowyn would be lovely I think.

I heard someone in a store the other day talking to her kid named “Anakin” and it kinda cracked me up. I’ve never seen any Star Wars movies, but I knew where that came from.

I think it’s great to name a kid something that’s not so mainstream. There are too many kids with the same boring names.

just be glad you weren’t named “golem” – that kid would hate his parents for sure.

@Lothloriengaladriel We are totally naming a kid Vader i never thought how bad ass that is, or Sith!

My opinion: they are purely cruel.

My sons name is Caspian. I loved the books growing up.

I was named after the main character in The Andromeda Strain. Not an uncommon name now but it was in ‘70s.

If someone names their kid Han Solo, there’s going to be trouble, or even Leia, and that’s actually a rather pretty name, but too much associated with that movie in many people’s minds. I’d be stoked to see a kid named Worf, though.

My name was invented by the playwright for one of his last plays, and no one has figured that I’m named after a character at all. I’m just told that I have a lovely name.

@aprilsimnel Leia is not at all uncommon in Sweden though these days. It’s pretty. Maybe you get away with it easier here than in the states.

As a kid, I hated my middle name, which is Joseph. How mundane is that, biblical stories aside? So I think kids’ are going to have a problem with their names no matter what you end up calling them. Of course, I think Dweezil or Moon Unit shows a character flaw in the otherwise genius mind of Frank Zappa.

I’m just going to name my son Spiderman to no one F’s with him. My mom named all her children after saints (first and middle name) I’m Thomas Joseph my sis is Christina Marie, my two brother are Charles Michael and Anthony Emmanuel.

Now naming a kid Satan or Lucifer would be cruel. :-)

One thing to keep in mind when it comes to naming kids is to make sure the last letter of the first name isn’t the same as the first letter of the last name. This makes pronunciation a little awkward. For example, Arnold Davis. Said fast, it all runs together and ends up sounding like Arno Davis. I’ve had this problem my whole life with my name, and a lot of people have called me Randy because of it. Randy is an adjective, not a proper name. :-)

@evelyns_pet_zebra I agree, it would be a bit funny. But there are actually some people named Lucifer. There are 10 people in Sweden named Lucifer. I personally like it. “The shining one”. Think it’s beautiful. But then again, I live in a atheist culture. Miroslav Satan in Pittsburgh Penguins seems ok with his name :)

@oratio can you imagine living in the Bible Belt in the US and having Lucifer as your name?

@evelyns_pet_zebra Yeah, I see your point ha ha. That would be bad parenting.

This is what middle names were made for. As long as the first name isn’t too ridiculous, I don’t think it matters all that much, but middle names were made for embarrassment.

I would prefer that a fantasy character just be named after my child, then it’s okay.

My husband liked the name Ripley from Aliens. I’m not kidding.

I have a child named after money….I’m pretty sure if I named my kid after a fantasy movie or novel, no one would bat an eye ;)

@casheroo What is your child’s name?

@oratio His name is Cash, hence my screenname :)

@casheroo Oh, that’s a very nice name. I think Johnny Cash. Has an all-american feel to it. I actually considered Ripley or Juni(June in swedish) if my son would have been a girl. They refused to tell us what gender it was, so I was prepared for a Ripley as well.

Why is it so bad to name a kid Lucifer? I know people named Damien.

@Triiiple I think it’s a fine name. It’s the translation to the King James Version that has caused the trouble. Because of that little mishap, naming a kid Lucifer is like naming him Adolf Hitler in some parts of the world, I guess. Damien is an old name isn’t it? Are you thinking about the Omen movies?

Both of my sons were named after fictional characters and they both love their names, as were at least three of my grandsons, and my granddaughter.

I don’t wanna talk about this. —Jar-Jar “Binks” Peterson

;-)

i’d appreciate the sense of humour your parents have :)

We gave our kids Bible names. The people during the Bible times gave meaningful names to their children (e.g. Daniel means “God is my Judge”, David is “beloved”).

We named one of our boys, Luke S. – after the disciple who wrote the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. His middle name? It isn’t Skywalker, but that is a pretty cool name.

@oratio Lucifer never came up while we were thinking of names for our children.
[Side note: Thanks to the KJV, we know the name of the devil before he lost his position as the anointed cherub. Isaiah 14:12; Ezekiel 28:14].

If you let your children name themselves when they turn 13…you end up with “Peek-a-boo Street”.

I think it is one of the greatest conceivable acts of supreme nerdiness. That said, my daughter’s name is Ripley, which we thought of while watching Sigourney Weaver in Aliens 4.

I like me. I named my two sons after fictional people.

I don’t mind if it’s a sensible name, especially if you can lie about the kid being named after a fictional character. All the names I picked can be explained away with Biblical and historical contexts and the second girls’ name I chose has the added benefit of being my favorite aunt’s name. I know a couple who named their son Luke and their dog Yoda.

When I have kids, if I have a son he’ll be named Alexander James. That was the original name of the hero from my own writing before I changed his name to Alaric. A daughter will be named Elizabeth Jane after the eldest Bennet sisters and Jane Austen. Another son, if I have one, would be named Elijah Joshua after the Biblical characters, Elijah Wood, Josh Groban, Josh Turner, and the song “Elijah Rock”. If I have two daughters the second’s name will be Mary Catherine after the middle Bennet sisters and Aunt Mary. Lydia Bennet will just be left out altogether since she gets on my nerves more than Kitty does.

@V_Scofield, and what if your husband wants to call them Jennifer and Bill?

I’d remind him that I’ve already got several people named Jennifer around and it’s confusing enough without adding another. As for Bill, I dislike that name and it makes me think of Aunt Barbara’s jerk of a first husband as well as Bootstrap Bill Turner. I’d be perfectly fine with Will as a nickname for William, though. I like Daniel, Jacob, Adam, and David. Isaac and Levi are good, too. Paul is definitely out of the question due to overuse.

My point was just that you might not be the only party to the decision, and your husband might prefer plain, common names. But there’s plenty of time enough for that question later on, so never mind. I had names for seven kids picked out when I was 14, and I ended up with two boys, neither of whom I named Rebecca, Valerie, or Elizabeth.

I am planning to take his ideas into account, but I have my preferences which will be used for my characters if not my kids (an author’s characters are their kids in a way; I should know after sticking with them through thick and thin for so long). Luckily, I have a lot of names I like and these were just my top four.

@V_Scofield “take his ideas into account” lol. Wait until you have kids. I got to name one, my husband insisted he get to name the next, I really had no say at all in his name (other than the middle name) It’s the only compromise we could make.

What really bugs me is when people make up names or spell them so that they look good when use hearts instead of dots over the i’s.